A Texas Sized Trick
by FanGyrl
Summary: The Stolls, or well, one certain Stoll plays another prank on Katie Gardner.


**Hey guys… I'm back again and I realized something not so shocking today… There is hardly enough Tratie in this world! So Here's a Tratie fic for you!**

**Me: I own Hexxe, and this idea… pretty sure that's it…**

**Katie POV**

My day was starting off just fine till the Stoll brothers decided to play a prank on me AGAIN. I had woken up, and after washing my face I realized that I was actually having a -Zeus forbid!- good hair day. I just brushed it out and it seemed to fall perfectly. I smiled and it reached my green eyes till they sparkled with happiness. I walked down to the pavilion to have breakfast and got a bowl a good size helping of Frosted Mini Wheats and some milk. I sat down and began eating and was on my third spoonful when everything changed. Instead of the shorts and yellow tank top and sneakers I had been wearing I was now wearing a theatrical quality yellow "Southern Belle" dress with a white bonnet and some white ankle high cowboy boots. **(If you want to see the dress go to Spirit Halloween, and search Southern Belle it's the purple one. Just imagine that in yellow) **I knew only one person- well actually two people- could be behind this. And both of them had unruly mops of brown curls and clear sky blue eyes.

"Stoll!" I screamed.

"Why yes miss Gardner?" Travis asked from behind me. I turned to see him grinning that stupid little crooked smile at me.

"I don't know how the _Hades_ you did this but I** know **it was you! Why? Why do you _insist_ on making my camp life miserable?" I asked.

"Because Katie-Kat I **know**__I'll always get an enjoyable reaction out of you," he replied tapping my nose. My face flushed and I stood up, all the fluff of my dress with me. I headed to the only place I knew to help me get revenge for this prank. I went to my cousin- literally her dad and my dad are cousins so she's my second cousin- Hexxe's cabin. Hexxe is a daughter of Hecate… so she can us a little magic to help me out of this situation.

"Hexxe?" I called knocking. She opened the door and bit back a laugh at my outfit.

"Need some help there Kates?" she asked me with a smile. She had a guilty look in her eyes, and that's when I realized.

"Oh my gods. _You __**helped**_** HIM**?" I asked her with a betrayed look on my face.

"In my defense: I didn't know he was going to prank **YOU**," she replied with a sheepish smile.

"Well can you help me out of it?" I asked, knowing that Travis was sneaky about these sorts of things.

"He made me swear not to reverse it…" she trailed off. See what I mean? SNEAKY!

"Did he make you swear that you couldn't do a spell on him?" I asked with a hopeful smile. She shook her head and my smile turned into a smirk in a split second. Seeing my look she asked.

"What's the plan K?"

"Well if lil' ole me's a Southern Belle, then why don't we make dear Travis a fine Southern _Gentleman_?" I asked her. She smiled and said a spell, I'm guessing the one she said for me too.

"Let's give this girl her request. A prank, a trick, a costume too. A blast from the past, back a few centuries why don't you?" she said with a clap of her hands. I smiled and we walked back to breakfast together. I sat back at my table and finished my abandoned bowl of cereal. The Hermes table was right in front of the Demeter one, so I looked up to see that Hexxe's spell had been quite successful. Travis was wearing black slacks, a long jacket, and a hat **(Again if you want a better picture then go to Spirit Halloween and search southern gentleman… It's the theatrical quality one). **I smiled, he got up and walked over to me.

"How in Hades did you do this Gardner?" he asked me.

"Why lil ole me prank you? I would _never_," I replied in my best fake Tennessee twang.

"Yes Gardner little old you. And yes you would, just to get back at _me_, for doing nothing wrong," he said.

"Travis. You did do something wrong. You put me in a _dress_. You know I absolutely HATE dresses! Therefore I put you in a suit so you could feel my pain," I replied with a smile, standing up.

"You so like me Gardner," he said with a smirk.

"I do not!" I lied. Yeah, ok I like him… shoot me. It's just so hard not to, he's just so cute…

"Yes you do," he said with certainty.

"If I did, how would you even know?" I asked him. Truly wondering.

"You made us match," he answered.

"I did not!" I retaliated. Then I looked at our costumes, Styx I did.

"You could have put me in a tux, but instead you made me a Southern Gentleman," he said with a smile.

"So? That has nothing to do with anything," I retaliated with a lie.

"So, if it has nothing to do with anything, what would you do if I did this?" he asked with a small smile stepping forward. I panicked and stepped back, running into another table. Everyone had pretty much dispersed by then. His clear blue eyes sparkled under his black hat, and he leaned in. I froze as his lips pressed against mine. He leaned back and ended the kiss. I just blinked.

"Travis Stoll, that is the _meanest _prank you've ever played on anyone," I told him, with a single tear falling down my cheek. I absolutely hate crying, it makes me feel like I'm useless and weak, and ugh! I turned with a huff and walked off to my cabin. After walking for a minute, he started running after me, I turned and saw him running, and just went brain dead, and I ran. I ran as fast as I could towards my cabin. I finally got there, and dashed through the door, and slammed it behind me. And slid down to the floor. I broke down right there, knowing that my siblings would be out in the strawberry fields around now. Then Travis knocked against the door.

"Go away!" I shouted with more tears falling. I curse myself for being such a weakling….

"Katie! Please? Will you at least talk to me?" he asked.

"No," I said loud enough to be heard. I heard him sigh, and footsteps walking away from the cabin.

"I didn't want to do this Katie-Kat," I heard him say. Then I heard rapid steps coming closer, closer, and before I could comprehend what was happening, Travis Stoll came flying though the window. He landed on one of my siblings, I think Rose's bed and got up and came over to the place where I was sitting.

"Katie, are you ok?" he asked me, pulling me up into a standing position.

"I'm fine," I replied wiping the tears from my face, and cursing them for being there in the first place.

"Kates, people don't normally cry if they're fine," he said with what looked like actual concern.

"So?" I asked weakly.

"So, you're not fine," he said. Great. Even the dimwit was onto me.

"So what if I'm not fine! **SO WHAT?** Why would you even care?" I exclaimed, but towards the end it was barely a whisper.

"**Maybe because I only **_**prank **_**you to get your ATTENTION! Maybe because I want you to notice how I **_**FEEL**_**? Maybe because I'm not near as **_**heartless **_**as you think I am!**" he yelled. I was already in a fragile state, and I didn't need an idiot yelling at me too.

"**Fine you HAVE my ATTENTION! How the HADES do you **_**FEEL**_**? And you are not the one to judge whether or not you have a **_**HEART**_," I yelled/spat at him.

"You _promise_, no _**SWEAR**_, I have your attention?" he asked, returning to normal, if not quieter volume.

"**Yes! Fine, WHATEVER!**" I shouted still miffed. His eyes got harsh, and I waited for him to reply glaring daggers at him.

"**KATIE GARDNER! I LOVE YOU OK! NOT JUST A STUPID CRUSH LIKE CONNOR GETS ALL THE TIME! I MEAN FOR. REAL. AND HADES I **_**KNOW **_**I HAVE A **_**HEART **_**BECAUSE IF I **_**DIDN'T **__YOU _**WOULDN'T BE ABLE TO **_**BREAK **_**IT ALL THE GODS DANG **_**TIME**_**!**" he shouted. I gasped and just stared.

"Y- you- you-you're- you're l- l- lying," I stuttered, in a whisper, backing away from him.

"No, I'm not. I swear it," her muttered sadly. His eyes shining.

"Leave. Now," I said hardly pointing toward the door. He nodded, and walked out. Just like that. And I went over to the Hecate cabin again. I knocked and Hexxe opened the door, seeing my tearstained face she immediately knew what I wanted.

"Let's talk at our spot, ok?" she asked. I nodded, another tear streaming down my face. We walked into the forest, and came upon a tree, a bit larger than the others, on the top of the trunk there were many sturdy branches, and in the midst of them, so well camouflaged that it could hardly be seen unless you were searching for it was a little tree house. I called a branch down to pick us up, and it lifted us into our little haven. Inside the tree house, there was a futon, and a couple of bean bag chairs. Hexxe and I had been coming to this spot for years, we actually built it together using a combination of magic and control ofver the plants. It was small, only big enough for four people at most, and it had no door, just, four "windows" about two inches apart, big enough to use to get in or out. The roof was build of branches, and leaves woven together, shaped like an umbrella.

"What happened?" Hexxe asked finally. I felt my eyes water up again as I started to answer.

"He, he's onto me. And we yelled for a little bit, and he- he- he said he l- l- lov- v- ved me," I answered, with a few tears. Hexxe gasped.

"What did you say?" she questioned anxiously.

"I- I- I called him a l- l- liar," I said. Her eyes widened.

"And then…." she prodded. I chewed my lip.

"He, he swore he wasn't lying," I answered finally.

"For the love of Zeus! Then what happened? FINISH THE STORY WOMAN!" Hexxe exploded. I cowered a bit from her outburst, but answered quietly anyway.

"I- I- I told him to leave, and then he did, without a second glance or a comment…" Hexxe's hazel eyes grew sad at my ending.

"Why did you think that he was lying?" she asked me. I just looked at her with sad eyes, and shrugged, not knowing an answer. Not knowing an answer.

"I'm gonna skip lunch, and probably dinner too, I'm going to bed…" I muttered, laying on the futon, and pulling a quilt over me.

"K. Feel better," she whispered, levitating herself down to the ground.

"K," I whispered knowing full well she couldn't hear me… Soon I laid my head down, and fell into a deep, and surprisingly dreamless, sleep. When I woke up in the morning, I just sat alone in the tree house. I did a few jig saw puzzles, crosswords, sudokus, and some word searches. Then, I decided to finally leave the tree house. I went to the strawberry fields, and just sat in a clear spot and made the berries grow, then I heard footsteps coming my way.

"You've got a lot of nerve Gardner!" the person shouted at me. I turned, to see Connor Stoll marching towards me.

"To do what?" I asked, my voice hollow and raspy. I looked him in the eyes, his sky blue pools were shining with pain, and with anger. I supposed he was angry at me, that would explain why he was yelling at me.

"To _**BREAK**_ my brother," he said to me obviously disgusted by what he had just revealed.

"He, he broke me first," I said, my voice still not quite right. Then, Connor seemed to realize the little things, like how my hair wasn't brushed, and my costume(still present), was all wrinkled, and all the tearstains running down my cheeks. His eyes softened, and he took me by the wrist. I didn't stand, but he pulled me up, and dragged me towards their cabin. I didn't fight, but I really didn't want to go in… when we got there he stopped and let go of my arm.

"Ok, I'm going to go in, you need to knock, and just wait for him to say something ok?" he said, looking like he honestly wanted to help, but if I had learned one thing from hanging out with the Stolls, it's that you should never trust their innocent looks. I just nodded, caught in memories from when we were smaller, we hung out all the time, and played pranks together from the time I was seven to the week I turned eleven, the boys started to drift away… we haven't been friends since. I snapped out of my memories, as the door closed lightly. Then, I did as Connor said, probably a bad idea to trust him, but I knocked. He opened the door, and put a finger to his lips.

"Who is it?" called a muffled voice.

"Katie," he replied.

"Tell her to go away! She already tore out my heart, and smashed it to bloody bits and pieces!" Travis, muffled by the pillow he was trying to suffocate himself with.

"Fine, leave Katie!" Connor shouted at me, then he mouthed, 'talk to him', and ran off trying to sound like a girl who was upset. I walked in, and sat on the bunk where Travis was laying trying to suffocate himself.

"I told you already, I DON'T WANT TO TALK CONNOR!" he shouted through the pillow.

"It's not Connor," I said softly, my voice still hoarse. His head snapped up immediately. His hair was matted, worse than usual at least, and his eyes were red and puffy, it was obvious he was as big a wreck as I was. And he was still in his costume.

"Katie, I thought you left…" he muttered. Silly Stoll…

"Your brother tricked you," I said to him. He smiled and laughed a little.

"Idiot," he laughed. Then, I started to laugh with him… soon we were laughing like hyenas! Then it all just happened so suddenly, our light happy mood, brought us to be saying things we needed out.

"I'm sorry about yesterday, I didn't mean to be so suddenly on you…" he said with a smile. I smiled back.

"Don't worry about it," I told him. He looked nervous all of a sudden.

"I, I, I have something to give to you," he said to me. Then he went to the end of the bed and dug around through his trunk. He handed me a single rose.

"Oh, Travis!" I exclaimed. He smiled, and looked at me for a response.

"I have something to tell you," I told him. He nodded and looked at me to continue.

"I hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, **love, **hate you," I said and as I pulled him outside, and told him to watch as grew him one red carnation, I realized that our hoping he knew what it meant. He smiled so wide, I thought his face might rip… then he kissed me, I heard a 'click' and saw a flash of light from behind my closed eyelids. We pulled back and muttered together.

"Idiot," referring to Connor.

"Yeah, sure," he muttered, "but this is still major blackmail material!" he finished.

"How can it be blackmail when we hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, hate, **love, **hate each other?" Travis asked. Connor's smug look turned into a grimace as he thought about that. It wouldn't do any good anymore.

Seeing his face reminded me of the time we -Travis and I- had put earthworms in his pillowcase back when we were eight. When suddenly I asked.

"Can we please be friends again?" to that, the boys just smiled. Maybe all it took to fix our relationships was a Texas sized trick.

**~FG**


End file.
